An Unexpected Return
by FOREVERLUVSVU
Summary: It has been two whole years since Olivia has seen her old partner, Elliot Stabler. When she gets a call she goes to see him, they both realize how much they missed each other. Now that she finally has gotten him back, will they finally admit their true feelings for each other, or will they do nothing with their relationship and continue on with their lives without each other?
1. Reunited

She walked into the precinct and sat down at her desk, ready for another long day of solving crimes. She was lonely and sad. She has been avoiding everyone who even attempted to try and be friendly with her. She didn't want anyone or anything, except for Elliot Stabler.

It has been nearly two whole years since her old partner, Elliot Stabler, had left after shooting a teenage girl. She had tried calling him almost every day, but it just went to voicemail every time.

After he had left, she realized that she should've told him her true feelings for him before the shooting. Things would've been different then. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, and that she has been in love with him since the first day she met him. But it was too late.

She had been at work for a few hours when she got a call around 11:00 am. Before looking at caller I.D., she answered the phone.

"Benson"

"Olivia!" said a worried voice through the phone.

"Who is this?" she asked.

"It's Lizzie, Lizzie Stabler." She responded.

"What's up?" she asked nervously, thinking that something was wrong.

"Its my dad. He has been so depressed lately. This morning I saw him writing something in his room. I'm worried that it was a suicide note. I called you because I know that you are the only who will make him happy again. He misses you Livvie, I know that."

"I'll come over right now. Just stay with him and make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid."

She rushed out of the building and headed straight to Elliot's house.

When she finally got there, she rushed to the door and knocked on it until it opened. Elliot stood there, expressionless.

"Hey El" she said softly. She was so happy to see him, and she tried so hard to hide her emotions from him. What she didn't know was that he was feeling the same way.

She had missed him so much, even after all of the pain he caused her, that she couldn't even help herself when she wrapped his arms around him and squeeze him tightly. She didn't want to let go.

Elliot hugged her back, just as happy to see her, as she was to see him. She missed her so much. He regretted never calling her back, but all the times that he would consider it, he got nervous and decided not to.

After she finally let go, she looked at him in the eyes. He had looked lie he just got out of bed, and he hasn't shaved in weeks. She could tell that he has been depressed.

"Can we talk?" she asked him.

"Sure. Come inside. I missed you Liv."

"I missed you to El." It became silent as they just stared at each other for a few seconds.

He finally broke the awkward silence. "So how has everyone been at the station?" he asked her as they walked inside and sat down on the couch.

"They are fine." She replied. They sat there again not knowing what to say. She couldn't take it anymore so she finally asked him. "Do you want to go out for dinner tonight, catch up a little bit?"

"I would love to Liv. So why did you come here?"

She was so excited that he had said yes. She couldn't wait to get to talk to him after the two years that have gone by without seeing him.

"I came here to see how you were doing. I miss seeing your face across from my desk El. I have just been so stressed out lately and you are the only person who will actually put up with my complaining."

"I'll always be here if you need anything Liv."

"Thanks El. I know you will. I will be too. Can you please just tell me why you never called me back?"

"I wanted to so bad, and sometimes I almost did, but every time that I went to pick up the phone, I reminded myself of what I did to that poor girl, and realized that you would never forgive me." He avoided eye contact the whole time he said this to her.

"Do you know how wrong you were?" She slid closer to where he was sitting and turned his head so she could wipe away a tear that was falling down his face.

Before she could say anything else, he moved closer to her until there was no gap between them. He then put his lips to hers, and she enjoyed it for a few seconds. She had been waiting for this day for years.

But then it hit her. She pushed him away as fast as she could.

"El, stop! What about Kathy?" she asked him.

"She got a divorce after I retired. She noticed how sad I was without you and she told me that she knew that she wasn't right for me and that I knew who was. Obviously she was referring to you, but I never had the courage to actually talk to you."

This time Olivia didn't hold herself back, and she leaned in for another kiss. This one lasted much longer than the first one.

After about two minutes of kissing, she pushed away and told him that she had to go back to work. He got a disappointed look on his face.

"Don't be sad. Meet me at my place tonight at 7. We will go out and get a nice dinner."

"Alright." He said to her. He couldn't wait for that night to come.

She got up and headed to the door, but right before she left, she turned around and said, "El, I was never angry with you for what you did. I was angrier that you left me without saying goodbye. "

"After the shooting, I realized how much I actually loved you, and how I could never put you through the pain of saying goodbye."

She walked up to where he was standing, kissed him again, and turned to walk out the door. Just before she left she said, "See you at 7!" and walked out.


	2. Reconnecting

After Olivia had walked out of the house Elliot turned to go up to his room and get ready for the night ahead of him. When he turned, Lizzie was standing there leaning against the wall, with a small grin on her face.

"Good for you dad!" she exclaimed.

"Did you just see all of that?"

"Yupp! And I'm glad that I did. It was nice to see you so happy for once.," she said with a giggle.

"Well since you know that I will be going out tonight, I need you to watch Eli for me."

"No problem!"

"I'm going to get ready for tonight." He said to her as he walked away, trying to hold in his excitement.

***Back at the station***

Olivia walked into the station with a big, uncontrollable smile on her face. When she walked in she headed straight to the captain's office. On her way there Fin said, "Looks like someone's happy." She gave him a smile and continued walking.

When she sat down with the captain, she asked him if she could go home around 5. Understandably, he asked her the reason why she wanted to leave so early.

"I just need some time for myself." she lied, "I need to clear my head."

"Olivia, you don't have to lie to me about your plans. I know when you are lying to me."

"Fine. I am going out on a date tonight and I really want it to be special." She gave him a small smile.

"Alright, that sounds fine. Have fun later."

When she walked back to her desk, Fin asked her, "So where have you been?"

"I went to a friend's house."

"I'm sure that it was 'just a friend,'" he said giggling. And he walked away

Olivia spent the rest of the day thinking about the night ahead of her. She realized how nervous she was after giving it some thought. She couldn't decide what restaurant to take him to, or what she would wear. But mist of all she didn't want to mess up this 'date' with Elliot. She knew that if something bad happened between them, there would be no fixing it.

When it was around 4:45, she got the captain's permission to leave and raced home. As soon as she got there, she jumped into the shower.

***Elliot's House***

As 7 o'clock came much sooner than he had expected, he jumped in his car and drove to Olivia's apartment. Even though he got there 15 minutes early, he didn't mind waiting for her.

While he sat in his car in the parking lot, he kept thinking about what Olivia probably thought of him. He thought that she must've hated him for not returning any of her messages, but then he remembered what she had said to him earlier. It made him less nervous.

When it was finally 7, he got out of his car and walked up to Olivia's apartment. He knocked, and she opened the door. He was mesmerized by the amazing blue dress that she was wearing. She looked so beautiful to him, and he was so excited that he finally would get to go out with her.

"Hey," she said. "Come inside. I just need to go grab my purse. Give me one second."

When she went into her bedroom to get her bag, Elliot walked into her little apartment. He had missed it so much. He had missed her so much.

She came out and walked over to him.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Let's go!"

They walked outside to Elliot's car and got in. The drive to the restaurant was mostly silent, except for some small talk here and there. This made Olivia nervous about how the rest of the night would go.

"So where are we going?" she broke the silence.

"Where ever you want. Its up to you."

"Can we go to that new sushi restaurant that's around the corner from here?"

"Absolutely!

After they had arrived at the restaurant and were seated, he was the first to speak.

"Liv, I know that I haven't seen you in a while, but I just want to let you know that since the moment I first laid eyes on you, I always thought of us as something more than just partners or even best friends. Or at least I always wanted us to be more than that. The only things that were standing in my way from making that a reality were Kathy and the job, but since I don't have either of those anymore, I was wondering if you'd want to give us a chance."

"You know Elliot, I've been waiting for you to tell me that for 14 years."

She moved her chair over to where he was sitting and kissed him. She was so glad to have him back. She knew that he is what she really needed to make her happy again.

For the rest of their dinner, they talked about Elliot's kids and how big they were getting. Eli was already 6 years old and he had just started elementary school a year ago. Maureen had finished college and moved in with her boyfriend.

Olivia told Elliot about everyone at work and how much they all miss him. She also talked about some of the cases that she was working on.

They talked and laughed throughout the whole dinner. When they finished, Elliot paid the bill and they left the restaurant.

On the way back to Olivia's apartment, Elliot noticed that her hand was resting facing up on the center console. Even though she was looking out the window, he took it as a sign and grabbed her hand. He held it until they had gotten to her apartment.

When Elliot began to say goodbye to her, she asked him if he wanted to come upstairs and watch a movie or something. He agreed and they walked up to her apartment together, hand in hand.


	3. Afterwards

When they got up to Olivia's apartment, Elliot sat down on the couch while Olivia got them both a glass of wine.

"So what movie do you want to watch?" she asked him while she was in the kitchen.

"I don't know. What's a good one?"

"I was thinking The Notebook. I love Nicholas Sparks movies!"

"Sounds good!"

They sat down on the couch as they watched the movie. About ten minutes into the movie, Liv moved closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. She had begun to close her eyes and fall asleep.

Elliot thought that she was sleeping when he whispered to himself, "I love you."

He had probably thought that she didn't hear him, but she heard him perfectly clear. She smiled a little but still pretended that she was sleeping.

Olivia woke up the next morning in her bed. At first she wondered how she had gotten there, but then she realized that Elliot must've put her there. She got up slowly and began to search for Elliot. She didn't know if he had stayed or not. When she got to the kitchen, she found a note on the counter top.

Liv,

I left after you fell asleep. When you wake up, meet me at the coffee shop on 42nd street.

-El

As soon as she read this, she ran to her room to get showered and dressed. She couldn't wait to see Elliot.

In the car, she decided that she was going to tell Elliot what she had always thought about him. This made her nervous, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to hold herself back from it for much longer, so she made up her mind and wouldn't let herself change it.

***At the coffee shop***

She walked into the coffee shop and immediately saw Elliot sitting at a table for two, waiting for her.

"Hey. How did you sleep?" he asked her.

"Great. Thanks El…for umm…bringing me to my bed last night." What she really wanted to thank him for was finally making the first move on her. She knew that it was going to happen someday, but she didn't want to be the one to tell him her feelings first.

"So what's up?" she asked him.

"Nothing. I just really wanted to see you."

"El, can I tell you something?"

"Anything Liv, you know that."

"Well, you already told me your true feelings for me, but I never got a chance to tell you how I really feel about you."

"Go ahead!" he said. He was actually a bit nervous about what she would say.

"For the past two years, I have thought about you everyday. It made me happy, just up until I would realize that you were gone. That is when I would become sadder than I was before I thought about you. I took one step forward and two steps back everyday. After awhile I realized how lonely and empty my life felt without you, and that's when I discovered that I was in love with you, and have been since I first met you." She didn't mean to tell him that she loved him, that part just slipped out.

"I love you too, Liv." He said quietly, but he wasn't lying. He leaned in and kissed her. She put her hand to his cheek, and he ran his fingers through her hair.

They stayed at the coffee much longer than Olivia had thought. The couple had gotten so caught up in their conversations that she didn't even realize that she was supposed to be at work a half an hour ago!

She had finally noticed this when she took out her phone to look at a text message that she had received from Fin that asked her where she was.

"I have to go to work, El. I'm late already. Maybe later you want to go out?"

"Sure. Text me what time you want me to meet you."

Unexpectedly, she leaned in for another, more passionate kiss. After a few seconds, she pushed him away and said, "I love you," and walked out of the coffee shop.

***Back at the precinct***

Olivia walked into the station, happier than usual, but this time, she did a better job holding in her excitement. She didn't feel like answering any questions about it from anyone.

"So where were you this morning?"

"I just overslept," she lied, "I forgot to set my alarm last night"

"Olivia, my office." Captain Cragen said to her.

Olivia walked into the captain's office and sat down.

"How was your date last night?" he asked her.

"It was great! Thanks again for letting me go home early."

"I'm happy that you found someone that you really like, but you need to make sure that he doesn't interfere with your job."

"I'm really sorry about that, captain. It won't happen again."

"Good. You may go back to work. We just got another case on a 14 year old who was raped and murdered a few hours ago."

"I'm on it." She said as she exited his office.

"So what do we got?" she asked her partner Nick Amaro.

"14 year old Sierra Holden. Her foster parents her this morning. They said that they haven't noticed anybody suspicious watching Sarah lately."

"Alright. I'll check if she has lived in any other foster homes."

After her long day at work, she was finally on her way home at around 8 o'clock. She had almost forgotten about her not-so-official date with Elliot, until she checked her phone and saw the missed calls and text messages from him. When she checked the times on all of them, it had said that the last time he texted her was at 6.

This made her contemplate whether she should call him or not, considering he was expecting her so much earlier. She gave it some thought, until she decided to text him instead of calling him.


	4. REVIEW

**Hey guys! I am sooo sorry that I haven't updated in like, EVER! I've been having major writers block and I'm just not feeling "it" with this story. I've also been reading a ton of other stories on this site (I swear I am addicted, I read for at least 6 hours a day) and I've been having a ton of other ideas for what I want to write about for my next story. Please leave me any reviews for ideas that you may want me to write for my next story. I will be starting it next week, so…. REVIEW!**


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